Interview With Paul Harrington

Paul Harrington has many names: Bob Surlaw, The Wobbler, That-Guy-Who-Ran-Hamster-Speak. He's well known around the OHR community for his sage advice, critical eye, and bizarre games. I know him best as being the inspiration for starting the Hamster Burrow after Hamster Speak's long run ended. As such, it's pretty great to have him as the first interviewee on the Burrow.

Hit the jump for Paul's thoughts on his latest game, game design, and the origin of flaming yaks.


I know that the world of Walthros and Bob Surlaw started as comics that you drew for your friends. What made you decide to make a game set in this world?

The first few arcs of the original comics were pretty much nonsense, but after a while the stories began to follow RPG archetypes for one reason or another. The comics were always heavily video game inspired, with Ecco the Dolphin (with Street Fighter’s Ryu’s moves for some reason) and Mega Man’s Elec Man appearing as characters. They were pretty bad characters in the comic, and only show up in my joke games, but there was a clear evolution of video game-y junk filling the comics, so actually making a game out of it was the next logical step.

The first RPG creation kit I ever messed with was The Bard’s Tale Construction Set in 1991, even before I drew the Surlaw comics. I had no idea what I was doing and never really learned until years later when I found the OHRRPGCE.

The first game came out 11 years ago...what’s been your motivator for keeping the series going so long?

Changing things up constantly. While there are obvious common traits and personality bits, the Bob Surlaw of Walthros, Gato Sucio, Surlaw Armageddon, and Cool Guy Bob Surlaw are clearly different takes on the characters. I love his design and his basics, but I think it’s fine to continue to reinvent a character over and over again as your life goes on. Surlaw Armageddon was going to attempt to tie this whole Surlaw multiverse crap together, partly as a joke and partly as a writing exercise, but I’m not in the same place now that I was when I started writing Armageddon and it would be really hard to get back to it. I’m very happy with the direction Cool Guy Bob has gone.

When it comes to making games, some people start by making design documents and writing lore, and others tend to just jump in...What kind of process do you have for designing a game?

After coming up with a basic concept, I pretty much always start with enemy and hero designs. For Cool Guy Bob, I actually drew every enemy in the game before actually writing its story or beginning to think about map design, and the soundtrack was composed before I even really knew what shape the game would take. In this case, I think the soundtrack was a big influence on the tone of the game as I continue to develop it, which is a pretty big change for me since game music was previously an afterthought for me.

What’s your advice to someone just starting with the OHR toolset?

Start small. Don’t try to make an epic RPG spanning 30 hours, or even 10, on your first try. Don’t throw out old projects, you can learn something even from the bad ones. Do feel free to go back and edit old games, even if people call you a George Lucas, if something in them really bothers you. Look at scripting, but don’t worry about becoming a pro from day one. Don’t try to design your own battle system for your first game. Don’t make games about internet memes.

In Cool Guy, Surlaw and Co. encounter all sorts of bizarre enemies, like baddies made of trash and the flaming Filet Mignyak. Where do you get your inspiration from when it comes to enemy design?

I sketch a lot of monsters, whether on paper or in MS-Paint, most of which never go anywhere. The better ones get used in games. I don’t really have any rhyme or reason for how I come up with what I sketch, but I will say the original Dragon Warrior games were the biggest influence on me when it comes to drawing monsters.

I know that Cool Guy is still a work in progress, but as far as the demo is concerned, what do you think went really well? Was there anything you would have changed in retrospect?

I’m super happy with its branching dialogue, Bob’s house, and the soundtrack. I think all of these things are perfect. I’m not in love with the battle system as it is now, and I kind of blew it on the one dungeon included in order to meet deadline. Dungeon design is my absolute least favorite part of making a game, and sadly I think it shows. I’m taking my time on the next dungeons.

Finally, any closing words?

Drop some funk, 8bit.

You can download the demo for Cool Guy Bob Surlaw here and read more from Paul on his blog, Wobble Reviews.